Our Mission

In 1988 the journal PUBLIC was launched by the Public Access Collective, which simultaneously began to publish the journal and curate public art exhibitions as a means to consider the potential of public art for both engendering collective experience and insight and for inciting debates and raising awareness in the urban environment. Since that time, the journal PUBLIC has expanded its content to more broadly explore the intersections of visual culture with critical studies, and continues its mandate to investigate ideas of art and culture within the urban context. Meanwhile, the Public Access Collective and its evolving membership continues to curate and produce urban interventions, speaker series and artist talks.

About PUBLIC Journal, Art Culture Ideas

PUBLIC is beautifully designed peer-reviewed journal that exists as an intellectual and creative forum that focuses on how aesthetic, theoretical, and critical issues intersect with art and visual culture. Each issue is organized around a central theme and brings together unique assemblage of Canadian and international art projects and writing that reflect a contemporary theme, along with book and exhibition reviews.

PUBLIC encourages a broad range of dialogue by bringing together artists, theorists, curators, philosophers, creative writers, and historians; by always publishing a diverse range of contemporary artists' projects; by experimenting with alternative forms of dissemination (e.g. DVDs); and by inviting guest editors from a variety of communities and organizations.